“Created a sense of tension”: Noah Wyle reveals why each episode of The Pitt covers a single hour of ER shift

The Pitt has turned out to be one of the most successful shows of the year, and the credit partly goes to its gripping narrative. Unlike other medical dramas, the Max series showcases real-time challenges faced by doctors as its 15 episodes cover a 15-hour shift at an emergency room.

By representing one hour of the shift in each episode, the show has been able to portray the functioning of a hospital while also delving deep into the personal traumas faced by the doctors and nurses.

Noah Wyle, who plays the lead role of Dr. Robby in The Pitt, has now addressed why the creators chose this unique narrative structure in the show. In an interview with PBS, the actor said covering one hour of the shift in every episode was a conscious decision to create a sense of tension in the story:

“We wanted to come up with a device that felt intimate and created a sense of tension, analogous to doing kind of a ride-along with a police officer in the back seat of a cruiser or being embedded with a combat unit as a journalist.”

Noah Wyle talks about the realistic portrayal of the ER in The Pitt

Noah Wyle is not new to medical dramas, as he previously starred in NBC’s ER for 15 years. However, Max’s The Pitt has an entirely fresh take on the genre, and its narrative is being described as a combination of the shows 24 and Grey’s Anatomy.

Wyle also serves as a writer and executive producer on the project. In this interview, the actor talked about how the team is able to come up with an authentic depiction of the activities of the emergency room, revealing that they spend a lot of time in extensive research with experts:

“The process begins with a lot of interviews, talking to experts from every vector of the health care system. We talk to people that specifically help practitioners get back their medical degrees after they have gone on a road of recovery for a drug and alcohol substance abuse problem.”

“We have talked to people that deal in human trafficking, people that deal with ICE and immigration and how that's going to affect emergency rooms, which are no longer considered safe spaces, sanctuary spaces.”

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After the interviews, the team takes all the material to professional doctors and gets a technical idea about how the procedures are done in the real world. The hard work has paid off, as The Pitt has been impressing fans ever since its premiere in January 2025 and has already been renewed for a second season.

The Pitt is available to stream on Max.

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